This report offers a very, very detailed account of our 4-day trip to the set of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back in California. We like detail when we do these things, so it's going to be quite long, and there's going to be some unrelated stuff that you may rather skip though. If so, CLICK HERE and we'll take you right to the on-set stuff which starts on Monday.

SUNDAY

It's 4:00 AM, and we're leaving Harrisburg, PA -- First destination: BWI. Final destination: Los Angeles, California. And so begins our journey across this great country of ours, the longest trip in News Askew history, as we visit the bustling set of Kevin's next film, "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back". Today is Sunday, February 25th. We'll be staying in the city of Angels until Wednesday the 28th, checking out the scene, the set, and logging some exclusive reports. As you know, we like to go into painful detail with these ON LOCATION things, to give you the best representation of what it was like taking the trip from start to finish. If you don't like that sorta thing, this may not be the report for you. Otherwise, sit back and strap in, cuz here we go!

6:00 AM - The car's parked in the long-term airport parking lot and there's the bus. A quick run and we've caught the bus that's going to take us to the terminal. Right on schedule!

The flight's gonna be long, but we've got some entertainment in the form of bunch of Howard Stern shows on the laptop for us to listen to as we pass the time. It's gotta be better than anything they're gonna offer as far as a movie or music goes.

7:35 AM - I'm hungry. When's breakfast?

8:00 AM - Today's in-flight movie will be "Duets". Hmmmmm. Dunno about that one. First, they're going to torture us with about a half an hour of the worst music videos from the 1980's. Where did they dig up this stuff?

8:30 AM - Peanuts and beverages! Finally! Today's breakfast choices are either the "jumbo egg and cheese biscuit" or wheaties with a banana and a pastry. It's a no-brainer, ya gotta go for the cereal when facing the choice of hot plane food.

9:00 AM - Ah, breakfast. The food really hits the spot. The wheaties and the pastry (strawberry something, I think) went down easy. The banana should be good for a snack later. Still 3 hours to go until this puppy lands in Arizona.

9:30 AM - Well, here comes "Duets". By the way, did you know that standard stereo headphones work instead of buying those $5 ones they sell ya on the plane? Sure, the flick's already been edited down theatrically to a PG-13 from an R, and the plane edit should be even drier, but it's a way to pass a couple of hours.

11:05 AM - "Duets" is not a very good movie.

10:10 AM Arizona Time - Well, here we are in the Phoenix airport. Funny how all airports look the same really. It must be easy for folks who travel for a living to forget where they are sometimes (like Paul Giamatti's character in "Duets"...AAAhhh... It's haunting me!!!). We find the gate for our connecting flight to Burbank, CA and realize things are running about 30 minutes late there. Perfect time to get some grub at the Burger King in the terminal.

The funny thing about travelling through time zones is that your body tells you it's lunch time, yet places like BK are still serving breakfast. Bummer! Luckily, after waiting another half hour, they're finally switching over and serving lots of yummy flame-broiled goodness. You can't help but wonder how many complaints that place gets a day from crazy travellers who can't understand why it's still breakfast time when it's well past lunch according to THEIR watch.

3:00 PM - The Universal Citywalk is a pretty cool place. It's got a giant TV and enough neon to rival Times Square in NYC, though instead the stores stretch up through an outside lane that runs alongside of the park. There's some neat specialty shops here, with some favorite items being a talking Timmy doll (from South Park) as well as some Futurama toys including a Nibbler and a Bender. Neat stuff. This seems like a cool place to hang out at after the park closes, since it gets busier as the night goes on. There's plenty of spots to eat, drink, and a cool arcade (similar to a Dave & Buster's type of place) that we might try and check out later in the week.

3:30 PM - After darting through a few stores we decide to check out the new IMAX 3D flick called "Haunted Castle" at the theater in Citywalk. The Imax theater has become pretty common around the country, but the ones with this way cool 3D technology aren't that plentiful just yet, especially in the middle of Pennsylvania. The show's at 3:50, so we grab some snacks and head in.

Haunted Castle runs under an hour, and, while the story's pretty thin, the effects and 3D stuff in this film have to be the best in an IMAX yet. Hopefully a day comes when they start making big Hollywood pictures with this technology...That would really be a sight to see.

6:30 PM - After checking out the rest of the scene at Citywalk, and having enough of the cold and the rain, we figure it's time to catch a shuttle back to the hotel and call it a day.

7:30 PM - Room service shows up with some grub...It's a bit on the cold side but we're hungry so it's edible. This was definitely a good call, since we both crash out right after The Simpsons and are out cold for the night. Jet lag'll do that to ya!

MONDAY

8:45 AM - Sleep felt good. Damn good. Gail just called to let us know that transportation is on the way to pick us up at 9 in front of the hotel. They'll take us to a bungalow at the set, and we'll get a seperate transpo to the stage itself. Should be cool! Time to head downstairs...

8:55 AM - Well, here comes the rain again. Until just now it was overcast...Must be the rainy season out here or just a stroke of really bad luck!

9:00 AM - Our driver's early for the first of what will be many shuttle rides between the set and the hotel. We gotta thank everyone from the transporation department right up front for that...These guys work some long hours hauling folks like us around and we really appreciated that. Surprisingly, the set's not far (only about a 5 minute ride). On the way, we learn that Mark Hamill's on set but that we probably won't recognize him due to costume. THE Mark Hamill! What an exciting start to things!

9:15 AM - We're dropped off outside of a very generic looking stage on the CBS lot in Burbank, where the production is currently set up. This lot also serves as home base for the production offices and editing facilities. Kevin and the crew were also out in this neck of the woods to edit Mallrats a few years ago. There's tons of shows filmed back here, and, surprisingly, we learn that the CBS lot isn't exclusively used for CBS stuff. Basically, anyone who wants to shoot a show or a picture back here just rents the space out. We're told that Seinfeld filmed on this very lot, along with a lot of other NBC stuff.

9:20 AM - It's a bit strange walking onto the set, as we realize that they've already been hard at work for over an hour and filming is already taking place. It's all business here, and a large crew is keeping things moving along briskly. A couple staff members soon notice us and make sure that we're on the level, and quickly invite us to make ourselves at home and help ourselves to some breakfast from the craft services area.

NOTE: Before we get started on the actual goings-on in front of the camera, maybe it's best that we give you an idea of everything happening BEHIND the camera, because it really is quite amazing. There's probably between 30 and 50 people on set at all times throughout the day, and everyone's there for a reason, from setting up lighting, watching playback, running cameras, bringing food, and, of course acting. The set is a BUSY place, and it's a bit daunting of a task making your way around it as it's tough to stay out of the way of the craziness of it all. They're filming most stuff today with at least 2 cameras simultaneously, which will offer Kevin and Scott many angles to cut to and utilize.

Something else we notice is there's almost a totally different language spoken on the set when it comes to situations with filming. While those of you on a set before or familiar with the lingo might find this common, we figured we'd share a few of the phrases (in italics) you hear being shouted repeatedly through the day as we continue with this report.

9:30 AM - We take a quick look at the set from a distance, hoping to stay out of the way as there's obviously shooting going on already - They start early and don't waste any time out here in Hollywood, that's for sure! As we quietly settle in, we spot Kevin and Scott among a large group of directors chairs behind the camera monitors, watching the action and whispering comments. It's not long before they notice us, and Kevin immediately comes over to shake hands and welcome us to the set. He offers us seats in the taller set of director's chairs, where we re-settle and start to drink in everything that's going on around us.

11:00 AM - Mark Hamill's stunt double is now filming some of the more complicated moves. From what we've seen, Mark himself's quite a whiz with the thing on his own, but we assume they want things to look as intense as possible. Several angles and rehearsals happen, before we hear:

"LAST LOOKS!" - After rehearsing a scene, the crew is alerted that this will be their last chance to check out the way that things look before they start rolling cameras.

1:00 PM - "LUNCH!" is called, and the crew (obviously hungry) quickly moves to shut down the proceedings for the next half an hour or so. It's quite obvious here that time is money, as EVERY light in the stage is quickly shut down and it gets REALLY dark. Man, does that Bluntcave ever look different when it's not lit! Lighting's not only a very essential part of a set, but it's gotta be expensive to run, as well.

Kevin asks his 2nd Assistant Director (2nd AD), Heather, to show us the way to the cafeteria for some lunch and then invites us to head up for dailies. After an excellent meal, we rush up to watch some of the stuff that took place on the last day of shooting (dailies are made up of only the SELECTED takes from the previous day's shooting). So, we're seeing stuff from their last day of work (which was Saturday, I believe) and it involves what looks like the start of the scene we're seeing unfold today. Jay & Silent Bob have arrived in the Bluntcave, somehow dressed as Bluntman & Chronic. As in the clip we saw this morning, we can now clearly see that they're on the Bluntman & Chronic movie set, and running into Mark Hamill's character, unaware that it's Jay & Bob there (not Biggs and Van Der Beek). The dailies look fantastic, funny, and the stunt work (Kevin's doing his own...very very cool!) is top-notch. You folks are really going to love this scene. It may very well be the greatest scene in View Askew film history. And we're not just saying that because we're here, trust us!

2:30 PM - Mark Hamill really is fantastic. Not only is this guy doing some amazing takes out there, but he's been chatting with tons of the cast and crew between takes and having a ball. He's an extremely nice guy. During some down time, while he's still in costume, we take a few minutes to introduce ourselves. After calling him Mr. Hamill he asks me if his father is in the room, then kindly says, "Call me Mark". Wow. Is this whole experience a Star Wars fanboy dream or what? Just thinking that we're talking to and watching Luke Skywalker himself act in person was worth making this trip alone. Okay, I shook Luke Skywalker's hand. I can go home now.

By the way, it was interesting to see, in both today's action and the dailies, that they're filming several different versions of dialogue and jokes for the flick, not only for TV safe versions, but just to allow some choices in the editing room. It will be interesting to see which lines actually end up in the final cut, and we assume you'll get to see some of the alternate choices and lines on the eventual DVD release. Kevin's actually writing this stuff on set (these aren't ad-libs), on the fly, so who knows what revision of the script we're up to now (or if this stuff will ever even appear in print!). It's quite an interesting process to watch.

Due to the camera movement and the amount of actors involved in this take, there's a great deal of setup and rehearsal before they're ready to start rolling on the scene.

"THIS IS FOR PICTURE!" - Before they even start rolling film on a scene, there's always rehearsal shots, then the previously mentioned "last looks", and finally, the time when cast and crew are comfortable enough to roll the cameras on a scene. When this happens, you'll hear "This is for picture!" yelled, alerting everyone around to be extra still and silent as to not mess up the scene.

5:30 PM - AICN's Mysterio makes himself known to me in a fun way...By posing as a crewman asking me to leave the set! I'm fooled and taken aback for a sec, as I don't know what the guy looks like, but he's quick to point out who he is. In case you don't know, this is the guy that's been given all access to the set and has been checking in with weekly reports from the set, posted over at AICN and at Scooping The Monkey. We spend some time catching up on what's been going on at the set, what he's been leaving out of those aforementioned reports, and lots more. Cool guy, and good company for the rest of the evening. The guy's got some good stories to tell.

8:10 PM - Filming's wrapped up for the day (they've gotta start paying the overtime to the crew once things extend beyond 12 hours of shooting, we discover), so 8 AM to 8 PM days are typical. Kevin stops to make sure that we're coming up to the bungalow for dailies tonight, which we most assuredly are.

Next, it's time to watch the dailies, again, all Bluntcave stuff here as this is stuff from the previous day of shooting. More of the same, including some funny line reads by Mewes and Hamill. Dailies are fun not only to see firsthand, but also to catch the reaction of the crowd that's around. After all, these folks in essence created these shots. It's cool to see what works, what problems they have, what makes them laugh, and of course the little bloopers and banter that happens before they roll and after they yell "cut!". It's a nice way to end the day, and gives everyone a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

9:00 PM - Our ride's outside and waiting for us, all set to shuttle us back to the hotel (now THAT'S service!). They're really treating us well here. We say goodnight to Kevin, Scott, and the crew and head home, looking forward to another day on the set and hopefully some better weather.

PART TWO

TUESDAY

There's more stunt work going on first thing this morning, so we figure now might be a good time to do the one touristy thing we've got time for while we're here...We hit Universal Studios, Hollywood.

Today was the slowest of the three set-wise, with a large portion of it being setups and some small stunt work (the beginning of a fight scene).

2:00 PM - We arrive at the set just after lunch break to find some complicated wire work stunt stuff being set up out in the Bluntcave set. This truly is a pivotal moment in the film as it seems that a lot of action and fight sequences are taking place right here. In one respect, it's damn cool to be here for such action-packed and climactic scenes, but on the other hand, it's going to continue to make it hard to report on actual set stuff without giving away spoilers. We'll do our best, but continue to edit ourselves for this first printing until closer to release.

2:15 PM - Malcolm Ingram, who we've been chatting with throughout the week, stops by to see why we're late and what's been going on. Malcolm is basically walking around the set with a handheld camera to capture bloopers, off-camera stuff, alternate angles, and lots more, which will all be included on a HUGE documentary/behind-the-scenes feature for the eventual DVD that comes from the film. The current plan is to make this thing as long as four hours (sort of like the laserdisc of Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" if you've ever seen it) including cast and crew interviews (conducted by Jen Smith) interweaved with actual footage. It's going to be really, really cool, and likely the highlight of the Special Edition disc that we'll hopefully see sometime in 2002.

3:00 PM - Jen Smith, (Kevin's wife, soon to be known for her J&SBSB performance) pulls us aside to chat for quite some time about what's been going on and what's to come. She's extremely friendly and outgoing, and gives us some insight on her experiences acting in a major motion picture so far. We learn that she'd initially had some reservations about her role in the film, and Kevin himself warned her about what she was facing, being his wife and cast in a main role, but told us that thanks to the bonding that she did with the other actresses that she's working closely with, it's been fun and easy. And the footage that we've seen certainly does show that.

What footage, you say? Well, Jen's anxious for us to get a look at some of the edited film (though Kevin warns her "Don't just show them YOUR stuff!") that she gives us a ride up to the bungalow where editing is taking place. We jump into the transpo van with Gail, Jen, and Ali Larter, who's wrapped her part of filming for the day. She's celebrating a birthday today, and is heading back to her hotel before the gang head out for a big birthday celebrating later tonight.

"BUNGALOW" - The studio backlot is FULL of these things. This is where satellite offices are set up for different groups of folks to work, crash, whatever. The bungalow where editing is taking place is also where they're screening dailies during lunch and at the day's end. There's another bungalow very close to the stage where Ratface and the production gang are preparing some fantastic background props for use throughout the film. More on that a little later.

3:30 PM - Here we are right in front of the big AVID equipment where practically every bit of J&SBSB that's been shot so far has been edited. Man, this is cool. They've got the actual Apple-based editing system right here on 2 giant computer monitors, with a HUGE Sony television (the best of the three spots to watch the final product) on the right. We recall the time a couple years back when Kevin invited us into his editing studio in the Red Bank offices to watch the super long Dogma roughcut. This is going to be good. Bob Chapman (he of Graphitti Designs fame) is here along with us to get his first look at some footage as well.

4:10 PM - Alright, all we can say is...You are going to LOVE this movie. Damn, it's funny...and raw! We just witnessed Jay's first meeting with Shannon's character, which takes place at Mooby's, George Carlin's hilarious cameo as a hitchhiker who gives Jay & Silent Bob some advice, a lengthy sequence in the middle of the film featuring Jay, Silent Bob, and the girls and finally, the El Rey stuff that some of you were present for...Yep, that's where the premiere of the Bluntman & Chronic movie takes place and a TON of View Askew alumni make their exits from the theater. Great, great stuff there and the answers to a lot of questions as well. There's going to be a LOT of talk on the boards about that scene, there's no doubt about it. If there ever was a tribute to the fans who have stuck with Kevin from the beginning, this truly is it. It's a wonderful endcap to the View Askewniverse as we know it.

We also learn a piece of top-secret information, that literally JUST happened. Carrie Fisher has signed on to play the role of a nun that gives a hitchhiking Jay & Silent Bob a ride (and man that's gonna be hilarious after seeing with Carlin just advised them to do in his cameo). We agree to keep this one a very big secret, but as most of you now know, this news eventually leaked out and you can now see this scene in the official theatrical trailer. It was cool to hear that two Star Wars alumni would be appearing in the film though.

5:00 PM - Gail's back on set to check things out for a while tonight. She's been incredibly helpful on this trip from start to finish, from providing us with the shooting schedule for finding a time to come in, to arranging our transportation to the set, and basically just filling us in on stuff we've missed and keeping us informed about who's coming in and when. She's got some wonderful stories to tell about everything that's been happening on the shoot, too. Gail, by the way, is Jen's mother as well as Kevin's assistant, and she does her job incredibly well. She's very pleasant, always has a smile on her face, and genuinely loves everything that has to do with this process. Hanging around with Gail is a lot of fun.

5:30 PM - Kevin had briefly introduced us to the film's production designer, Robert "Ratface" Holtzman yesterday, who'd invited us to come down to their workshop and check out some of their work. Ratface, by the way, you might remember as the cop whose neck got broken by Ben Affleck in the climax of Dogma. Basically, any set or prop you see was thought up and designed by Ratface and his team. He's been doing incredible work for View Askew since the beginning. Now seems to be a great time to take a walk down there, so we do just that, as it's just around the corner from stage 19.

The production office - This is one of those places that just goes beyond the realm of coolness, and rivals the stage itself as far as fanboy fun goes. There's all the full-size faux movie posters that were posted outside the El Rey ( Bussing, for example), as well as that hilarious Bluntman & Chronic One Sheet featuring Biggs & Van Der Beek. Man, that's a cool prop. Then there's the actual folded together Mooby's props, such as the box for an order of fries, or the counter standee that urges you to "Bovine Size It", complete with a large Mooby's cup and fry box. It's incredible. These guys have created an entire subculture, an entire Askewniverse, and a lot of it never even gets seen clearly on camera! A disgustingly green burger on a full-size Mooby's menu has a note that declares "Friday is meat day!" It's hilarious, and a movie's worth of jokes in itself just looking through all this stuff.

Rat introduces us to his partner in crime, Scott Purcell, and the guys sit down with us and hand us a TON of production art, pictures of Mooby stuff, set designs, and lots more. Rat & Scott go into the background for each of the Mooby characters, such as Surly (the names of the others escape me at the moment). Each of these guys has their own background, characteristics, and everything. It's been thought through to such detail and precision that you wouldn't believe it. They've gotta write a book on this stuff someday. Hey, maybe we can help!

Finally, and this might be one of the funniest things you'll ever see, we get a look at a poster that adorns the wall of the animal facility that Jay & Bob break into in the film. It's basically a poster-sized step-by-step diagram of lobotomizing a monkey. It's got small captions under each step, and a picture, describing how to shave a patch of hair off of the monkey's head, how to attach a network-like computer cable, and how to dispose of the monkey if the procedure goes awry. All the while, the monkey in the photo just has the stupidest smile on his face. It's morbidly funny, and absolutely a shame if this poster doesn't get some screentime. If not, we're going to do everything we can to see that you can get a look at it. This thing would be a fantastic gimmick for the Stash to sell, though we're not sure PETA would agree with that.

These guys are doing great, great work, and we're hoping to get copies of stuff to present on News Askew so it doesn't go unseen. The sets and the props all come from the minds of these guys, and the amount of great material that's coming out of this little trailer is truly astounding. We can't wait to show you more of it, and until you get to see it all in action up on screen. There's certainly not a bit of detail spared in this film, and practically every prop is a joke, pop culture, or View Askew reference in itself. If you liked the "Derris" and "Loughran" signs at the airport and bus station in Dogma, there's a LOT more where that came from in this flick. It's genius.

7:00 PM - Back on set...There's some tough stuff going on tonight, featuring a circular camera shot which is swirling as Eliza and Shannon talk to each other. The tricky part is in the continuity - Not only do both actresses need to get their lines right, but this is shot several times, and in several ways, once with Shannon on camera at all times, then again with Eliza on camera in the same fashion. This way, there's full coverage for all of the lines, and the editors can choose their favorite lines and cut to the actress or reaction that they want.

That's where the continuity comes in. Because we're in the BluntCave, certain elements stick out. And unless the movements are timed right, it might appear that both actresses are in the same place in the cave as the camera turns (since they're being shot seperately). If they are, we'll have one of those little flubs that gets mentioned on those websites that love to point out movie blunders. Luckily, there's a whole team in place to watch for just this type of stuff, so all that remains is for the camera to get a good take. Eliza insists on trying this scene several times, as it's quite a bit of dialogue back and forth, and she wants it to be smooth. After 3 or 4 actual takes (and taunts of Kevin yelling "Kick her ass, Duck shoot!" and "Last chance!"), everyone's satisfied, and it's time to once again check the gate.

"CHECK THE GATE!" - The set always seems to come alive in a good way when you hear this one...This means that a take has just happened that satisfied the directors and anyone else watching the action. They then check the "gate" of the camera for hair or other debris to make sure that the footage that was just shot is crisp and clean. If so, it's usually on to the next setup.

7:30 PM - Mysterio introduces us to a guy who, like us, has been lurking in the shadows of filming for the past few minutes, who turns out to be none other than comic and animation guru Paul Dini. He's a very friendly and cool guy, and obviously enjoys playing fanboy and checking out the on set action as much as we do. He informs me that he's a frequent visitor to the News Askew website, which is very cool to hear. We chat a bit about the whole Clerks fiasco (Paul, as you may know, contributed to the famous flashback episode gags, and also wrote an open-letter to ABC which we published, regarding the show's premature demise). There's a desire here to just talk Paul's ear off about all of his amazing contributions to the comics world, as well as the way cool Batman Beyond, but I opt to use some discretion and give the guy a break and just relax to watch the filming. Nice to hear that he's a regular visitor to the site, though. If you've stumbled upon this page, Paul, it was great meeting you. Chris regrets the fact that he didn't get a chance to show you his Batman Beyond watch.

8:30 PM - Filming's wrapped for the day, and we've made our way up to the bungalow to watch more dailies. Kevin and Scott show up and enter the editing room to watch some preliminary special effects shots on the big screen, which consist of the first look at the Bong sabers in place (Jay & Bob's will each fill with smoke in a special way, hopefully in a way that DOESN'T make Lucasfilm cringe). There's also a shot of Jay & Silent Bob running from a building with a TON of CGI-inserted animals (we also saw an untouched shot of Jay & Bob running out of the building with nothing else around them, could be a neat angle feature to add to the DVD). The digital stuff's looking great so far, and it looks like there'll be no problem having it all in place by the August 10th release date. Ah, the beauty of editing together a film as you go!

9:30 PM - After today's dailies, which consist of the stuff we talked about filming on Monday (Jay & Bob fighting Cock Knocker, the girls and Will joining Jay & Bob in the Bluntcave) we're having a bit of trouble finding a ride back, as things ran a little later than planned and transportation's quit for the night. Kevin lets us on the back of his golf cart (the popular means of transportation for a lot of the VIPs on the studio lot) and takes us for a ride down to the View Askew "base camp". Unfortunately, they've all gone home for the night, so Kevin does a damn nice thing and drives us to his Jeep to personally give us a ride back to the hotel. After a long day of shooting, we're sure he had lots of better things to do than drive our sorry asses around, so this was way, way cool of the guy. Tell me this...What other movie director do you know of that would ever do that for ya? Kev's just a real class act.

On the ride back, we chat a bit about the filming and how things are going. We decide that it's best that we keep the pics and this report spoiler free, as News Askew is now an official site, we're cooperating with the production team to ensure that nothing major gets ruined. Trust us, it's better that way. Plus, with that agreement, we're getting lots of cool perks like being able to debut shots of the actors, the set, plot details and more, as time goes on. News Askew is going to come alive for the new few months, and it's all thanks to Kevin, Scott, and Ratface for giving us the exclusives. Keep watching the official View Askew website as well as this one for more of that stuff.

WEDNESDAY

10:00 AM - The fight between the girls is getting mighty nasty today, with a TON of screaming and expletives flying around, kicking, rolling, hair pulling, everything that's expected from a good catfight. It's good stunt work, as the women filling in for the girls are making it look quite realistic. Next up is some wire work!

11:00 AM - Now THIS is some cool stuff. Some "Charlie's Angels"/"The Matrix" style wirework where one of the girls is rising quite high up in the air and, with a couple swift kicks, drives the other back a good 15 feet! Again, tons of precautions are taken with pads all over the place to brace the fall. When you watch this stuff from behind the monitors and in dailies, it looks incredibly real, even with the wires attached. They're shooting a plate for this scene, and others like it, to remove all the wires, pads, and stuff, which is gonna bring all the big kicks and flying bodies to life.

"SHOOTING A PLATE" - Whenever something will need to be added to a shot or removed from it, a plate shot is needed. This is a shot where the camera moves the exact same way, in the exact same motion and tempo, but without props and actors. That way, there's a blank canvas to work with for replacing stuff like wires with empty air. It's a simple concept but makes a HUGE difference when it comes to realism of special effects.

12:00 PM - Kevin and Scott shuffle through a couple books of set pictures taken by Scott, and these things are fantastic. Mosier's once again catching some wonderful moments and compositions with his camera, and we're thrilled that Kevin's decided to share some of the shots with us, and, ultimately, you. Kev and Scott go through them one by one, and hand pick a stack of around 30 shots and offer them up for the web. We'll scan these puppies up at high-res and present them on News Askew for your first look at a lot of the film's characters (you've been seeing them for the past few Mondays on the home page). How cool is that?

1:00 PM - We're suddenly informed that the transpo department is outside waiting to give us a ride to the airport, which is a bit of a surprise since we didn't expect them until 1:30. Kevin's off set at the moment (we'll later find that he was on the way to us with Affleck and Lee in tow, who we missed by just MINUTES), so we take a quick minute to say goodbye to Mosier, Ingram, Mysterio, and some of the other crew who we've grown to know over the past few days. It's an abrupt end to this life on a Hollywood set; it sure is easy to get sucked into it all. This afternoon, they're going to be filming Jason Lee as Banky. Affleck was on set just for publicity photos today, as we're sure he's incredibly busy between "The Sum Of All Fears", "Changing Lanes", and getting ready for that "Pearl Harbor" release in a couple of months. Hopefully we'll get a chance to catch these guys again somewhere down the road.

1:15 PM - Transpo drops us off at home base, where we'd left our bags earlier that day. We run inside, grab the gear, say goodbye to Gail (who's been a HUGE help to us this entire week), and head on our way. Gail asks us about coming in for the New Jersey shoot in a few weeks, which is something we might just do if time and schedule permit.

1:30 PM - After a quick ride to the airport, we're dropped off right at the terminal and on our way to check-in. We've gotta take a second here to again say how cool and helpful the transportation department has been to us during this trip, and how much it was appreciated. There's no way this trip would have been the same without their courtesy and dependability. Thanks a million, transpo!

3:30 PM - We're stuck on a flight bound for Phoenix right now, as the weather and air traffic control delays have us grounded. Luckily, we're actually on an earlier flight than we planned to take anyway, so it should work out and get us home on time, that is, if there's no further delays once we reach Phoenix. Ah, the unpredictability of air travel. Maybe one day they'll get all this perfected...Or someone will figure out teleportation. Then again, after seeing "The Fly", I'm not sure I'd be too excited to try it.

8:00 PM Phoenix Time - Major delays at the Phoenix airport (getting to hate Phoenix...) have us stuck here until at least 8:50. Our flight was SUPPOSED to be outta here at 6:50. Damn frustrating considering this means a 4:00 AM arrival back home (EST). No one should be awake at 4 AM. It's just not right.

10:00 PM - We're on board and speeding back towards Baltimore...Running about 2 hours behind schedule but a strong tailwind is going to allow us a 3 AM arrival. Sure, it's not the best, but it sounds a heck of a lot better than 4 PM. "Lucky Numbers" is our flick for the ride back. Strangely enough, we were just talking with a guy on set today who worked on this flick, and some of it was filmed just minutes away from us in Harrisburg. The meal's gonna be ravioli or some sort of chicken salad - Frankly, at this hour, they both sound pretty scary.

3:00 AM Baltimore Time - Well, with this landing it's just a car ride home and a lot of needed sleep to get back into the swing of things. Chris and I go our separate ways as he's headed to the long term parking lot to pick up the car and head back to his place. I was happy to see my girlfriend Aimee who drove all the way in to the airport to greet me and accompany me home.

Looking back on the last few days, it's been the best View Askew trip yet. Special thanks to Kevin for the invite and the hospitality, Gail for all her knowledge and help, Ratface for the tour of the production office, and the transportation department (and Kevin again) for getting us from to the set, the hotel, and the airport. Also: Mysterio, Paul Dini, and Bob Chapman - It was a pleasure finally getting to meet you guys in person. See you again soon. Cast and crew - Thanks for letting us invade the party for a few days. We look forward to seeing you all again for a future project.

Until then...